The PlayStation Network (PSN) outage lasts for six days thus far and there’s no end in sight. Meanwhile, Sony’s comments on the situation are as grim as a few days ago. It looks like Sony is trying to test the patience of its gamers.

While for many of you Easter long weekend is a time for relaxation, including having fun with your family and putting some serious gaming time, PSN players understood they can only be engaged in the former. Gaming has been impossible since 20th of April due to the outage.

In response, Sony confirmed the outage on the 21st and on the 22nd it promised that the network would be back up in “a couple days”. As for PSN users, they released tons of complaints and were frustrated at first and are furious by now. There were many suggestions that Sony should reimburse its consumers losing valuable gaming time on the network. However, the company failed to distinctly explain the outage, simply saying that it was an “external intrusion”.

The first pointing finger was to blame Anonymous who previously expressed grievances toward Sony over the treatment of GeoHot. However, Anonymous denied the accusations on the 23rd and claimed that Sony had simply been incompetent. Although the chances are that other Anonymous have been acting by themselves, there’s a more likely explanation: Sony is just taking advantage of Anonymous reputation to refer to “external intrusion” and hide from the users the fact that the outage is really an internal problem with Sony’s servers.

By the 24th of April, Sony announced that its whole network was being rebuilt in attempts to try and get the network running. But up to date there is still no PSN and Sony can’t say when it will go back online. Instead, the company suggested that users’ personal data like credit cards might have been compromised as well, but this has yet to be confirmed. Anyway, it seems that things are far worse than community feared before.

Everything that is known about the network outage is that PSN has been out for six days in a row right after Sony and GeoHot settled an agreement. Now the company claims it is an “external intrusion” which somehow lasts for a week already, while people’s personal information like credit cards could have been compromised. So, since we can’t prove that Sony shut the network on purpose to end illegal gaming, we can only state there’s no end in sight to the outage.

First off, we want to again thank you for your patience. We know that the PlayStation Network and Qriocity outage has been frustrating for you. We know you are upset, and so we are taking steps to make our services safer and more secure than ever before. We sincerely regret any inconvenience or concern this outage has caused, and rest assured that we’re going to get the services back online as quickly as we can.

We received a number of questions and comments yesterday and early today relating to the criminal intrusion into our network. We’d like to address some of the most common questions today.

We are also going to continue to post updates to this blog with any additional information and insight that we can over the next few days.

We are reading your comments. We are listening to your suggestions. Please keep them coming.

Thank you.

Q: Are you working with law enforcement on this matter?
A: Yes, we are currently working with law enforcement on this matter as well as a recognized technology security firm to conduct a complete investigation. This malicious attack against our system and against our customers is a criminal act and we are proceeding aggressively to find those responsible.

Q: Was my personal data encrypted?
A: All of the data was protected, and access was restricted both physically and through the perimeter and security of the network. The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken. The personal data table, which is a separate data set, was not encrypted, but was, of course, behind a very sophisticated security system that was breached in a malicious attack.

Q: Was my credit card data taken?
A: While all credit card information stored in our systems is encrypted and there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained. Keep in mind, however that your credit card security code (sometimes called a CVC or CSC number) has not been obtained because we never requested it from anyone who has joined the PlayStation Network or Qriocity, and is therefore not stored anywhere in our system.

Q: What steps should I take at this point to help protect my personal data?
A: For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well. To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports.

Q: What if I don’t know which credit card I’ve got attached to my PlayStation Network account?
A: If you’ve added funds to your PlayStation Network wallet in the past, you should have received a confirmation email from [email protected] at the email address associated with your account. This email would have been sent to you immediately after you added the funds, and will contain the first 4 digits and last 4 digits of your credit card number. You can also check your previous credit card statements to determine which card was attached to your PlayStation Network or Qriocity accounts.

Q: When or how can I change my PlayStation Network password?
A: We are working on a new system software update that will require all users to change their password once PlayStation Network is restored. We will provide more details about the new update shortly.

Q: Have all PlayStation Network and Qriocity users been notified of the situation?
A: In addition to alerting the media and posting information about it on this blog, we have also been sending emails directly to all 77 million registered accounts. It takes a bit of time to send that many emails, and recognize that not every email will still be active, but this process has been underway since yesterday. At this time, the majority of emails have been sent and we anticipate that all registered accounts will have received notifications by April 28th. Consumers may also visit www.us.playstation.com/support and www.qriocity.com for notices regarding this issue. In addition, we have taken steps to disseminate information regarding this issue to media outlets so that consumers are informed.

Q: What steps is Sony taking to protect my personal data in the future?
A: We’ve taken several immediate steps to add protections for your personal data. First, we temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and, second, we are enhancing security and strengthening our network infrastructure. Moving forward, we are initiating several measures that will significantly enhance all aspects of PlayStation Network’s security and your personal data, including moving our network infrastructure and data center to a new, more secure location, which is already underway. We will provide additional information on these measures shortly.

Q: Has Sony identified the party or parties responsible for the PlayStation Network hack and subsequent theft of personal information?
A: We are currently conducting a thorough investigation of the situation and are working closely with a recognized technology security firm and law enforcement in order to find those responsible for this criminal act no matter where in the world they might be located.

Q: When will the PlayStation Network and Qriocity be back online?
A: Our employees have been working day and night to restore operations as quickly as possible, and we expect to have some services up and running within a week from yesterday. However, we want to be very clear that we will only restore operations when we are confident that the network is secure

I think we now have a definite winner in the arguement who is better Xbox or PS community network, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha all you playstation mugs no body at Sony gives a f*ck about you cos they already got your money biatches

id just like to point out, theres something called single player. If unable to connect to PSN meant you couldnt play your game you paid for, sure thats unfair, but if you really want to play that game you have in mind, be quiet, let sony do their thing, n press that &quot;single player&quot; option. Thats what ive been doing for the past week.

Users may receive potential phishing attempts via title specific messaging while playing Modern Warfare 2.

We are aware of the problem and are working to resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience ''
If hackers target the 360 they will get 360 hacked, so please dont start with the bs we pay so 360 is safe. This could be the start 2 just like what happend with ps3

@snotlab that funny u never found out when i was all up in your sister! So means i am protected .so my account is clean PS3 is Bomb in 3d. oh sorry u dont have a 3d tv i was at the house with your sister

lol, yep just using single player now. i will never buy a xbox 360 because they are such a piece of $hit. went through 3 360 and didn't even move them. they just crashed out of no where. ps3 hasn't crashed on me for the 2 years i had it now. who cares if the network goes off line. i rather play single player over multiplayer anyways.

no the reason were pro ps3 is the break rate of an xbox is 54% and ps3 is like 26% or somthin like that this junk suxs bro id fight the kid if he was walking by with a tshirt on that said i hacked ps3 and broke it i wouldnt say one word id just fight him

I have to laugh at all these comments. PS3 is a nice system but their network has ALWAYS been shit. You have to give microsoft credit. when someone hacks their systems they hire them and integrate it into their systems. They evolve. Sony has always taken the other approach and it seems their people suffer for it. Yes ps3 have better graphic, but thats about it. I would rather play my games in decent graphics and have fun then wait to play them in hidef, and even then its a toss up. by the way xbox360 quality has gone up quite a but and their processing power is much better. most of the 360 crap was in the first system put out. I think Ill just keep playing my 360 and be pretty happy with it.

@snotlab well now i understand where you're coming from xD
sweet revenge since they started ofc lol ^^
but look @2 he's being a plain fanboy ''I think we now have a definite winner in the arguement who is better Xbox or PS community network, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha'' how's the ps ''network'' being relevant to the xbox?? if he meant xbox live, then yes, ps3 sucks on connection/host issues etc

I agree that the PSN does have connectivity issues but the ONLY reason anyone would ever buy an asscocks 369 is because of how easy the system is to mod/hack. If I remember correctly this is the only time the PS3/PSN has ever had any kind of issues involving a hack...if Microsoft has to constantly beef up their security then that means they weren't doing something right in the first place. How I look at it is; the reason the PSN is still down is because they are making sure that a situation such as this does not occur again for a very long time. You want to know the best reason for buying a PS3? because it's not an asscocks 369.

omg xbox360 live people are so petty..gamers used to band together and its sad to see what we have become...anyway

This morning, a press conference took place in Tokyo, Japan and the following press release is now being distributed worldwide. We would also like to once again thank you for your patience.

On 1 May 2011, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) announced they will shortly begin a phased restoration by region of PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, beginning with gaming, music and video services to be turned on.

The company also announced both a series of immediate steps to enhance security across the network and a new customer appreciation programme to thank its customers for their patience and loyalty.

Following a criminal cyber attack on the company's data centre located in San Diego, California, USA, SNEI quickly turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, engaged multiple expert information security firms over the course of several days, and conducted an extensive audit of the system.

Since then, the company has implemented a variety of new security measures to provide greater protection of personal information. SNEI and its third party experts have conducted extensive tests to verify the security strength of PlayStation Network and Qriocity services.

With these measures in place, SCE and SNEI plan to start a phased roll-out by region of the services shortly. The initial phase of the roll-out will include, but is not limited to, the following:

Restoration of online gameplay across PlayStation 3 and PSP systems, including titles requiring online verification and downloaded games.
Access to Q Music Unlimited for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers.
Access to account management and password reset.
Access to download unexpired movie rentals on PS3, PSP and Media Go.
PlayStation Home.
Friends List.
Chat functionality.
Working closely with several outside security firms, the company has implemented significant security measures to further detect unauthorized activity and provide consumers with greater protection of their personal information.

The company is also creating the position of Chief Information Security Officer, directly reporting to Shinji Hasejima, Chief Information Officer of Sony Corporation, to add a new position of expertise in and accountability for customer data protection, and to supplement existing information security personnel.

The new security measures implemented include, but are not limited to, the following:

Added automated software monitoring and configuration management to help defend against new attacks.
Enhanced levels of data protection and encryption.
Enhanced ability to detect software intrusions within the network, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns.
Implementation of additional firewalls.
The company also expedited an already planned move of the system to a new data centre in a different location that has been under construction and development for several months.

In addition, PS3 will have a forced system software update that will require all registered PlayStation Network users to change their account passwords before being able to sign into the service. As an added layer of security, that password can only be changed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated, or through validated email confirmation, a critical step to help further protect customer data.

The company is conducting a thorough and ongoing investigation and working with law enforcement to track down and prosecute those responsible for the illegal intrusion.

&quot;This criminal act against our network had a significant impact not only on our consumers, but our entire industry,&quot; said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. &quot;These illegal attacks obviously highlight the widespread problem with cyber security. We take the security of our consumers' information very seriously and are committed to helping our consumers protect their personal data. In addition, the organization has worked around the clock to bring these services back online, and are doing so only after we had verified increased levels of security across our networks. Our global audience of PlayStation Network and Qriocity consumers was disrupted. We have learned lessons along the way about the valued relationship with our consumers, and to that end, we will be launching a customer appreciation programme for registered consumers as a way of expressing our gratitude for their loyalty during this network downtime, as we work even harder to restore and regain their trust in us and our services.&quot;

While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, the company is committed to helping its customers protect their personal data and will provide a complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programmes. The implementation will be at a local level and further details will be made available shortly in each region.

The company will also roll out the PlayStation Network and Qriocity &quot;Welcome Back&quot; programme, to be offered worldwide, which will be tailored to specific markets to provide our consumers with a selection of service options and premium content as an expression of the company's appreciation for their patience, support and continued loyalty.

Central components of the &quot;Welcome Back&quot; programme will include:

Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download. Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.
All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.
Q Music Unlimited subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.
Additional &quot;Welcome Back&quot; entertainment and service offerings will be rolled out over the coming weeks as the company returns the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services to the quality standard users have grown to enjoy and strive to exceed those exceptions.

SNEI will continue to reinforce and verify security for transactions before resuming the PlayStation Store and other Qriocity operations, scheduled for this month.

For more information about the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services intrusion and restoration, keep an eye on PlayStation.Blog at blog.eu.playstation.com, twitter.com/PlayStationEU